Too much love will kill you

The burning truth

Alicia's POV:
The next day I walked into work feeling a lot more confident. I walked onto the ward and changed into my scrubs, I collected my patient files from the desk and walked onto the ward- I did a double take when I saw who was in the Admissions unit "Fran? What's going on?"
"I was playing tea parties with my cousin last night because she's staying with us whilst her parents are on vacation and she didn't tell me she'd used real water- boiling water from the kettle and she accidentally poured it all over my legs. Mam ran the cold shower over my legs for twenty minutes but they blistered so we came to the ED and they've just sent us up here, Mam has gone to make a cup of tea"
I wheeled her into a cubicle and helped her onto the bed . I peeled back the dressings that had been applied in the ED "Oh Sweetie. Do you need painkillers? Is it painful?" I asked
She nodded "They are pretty painful, I didn't want to make too much fuss in front of Mam because she feels bad"
"Okay sweetie. I'll check what I'm allowed to give you but for now I'll give you some paracetamol and get a nurse to put a cannula in to see if we're allowed to give you something stronger" I taped back down the dressings and wheeled her back out to the waiting area.
About an hour later Fran was admitted to the ward, her Mam had gone home to get her some things "How are you settling in?"
"I'd rather be at home but it's better than being in school I guess" She laughed
"You know you still have to do school work here right?" I laughed
"I know but it's different from being in actual school." She shuffled up the bed
"You'll probably only be here for 48 hours just to monitor for risk of infection and until the Burns Specialist has seen you to determine whether you might need a skin graft but your burns are only partial thickness and not very deep as far as I can tell"
"A skin graft!?" She looked horrified
"Hey it's okay. I'll get the Burns Specialist to come and see you tonight to put your mind at ease and explain everything to you and I'll try and be here when they come" I slotted her chart back onto her bed and walked away
Later on in my shift, The burns specialist came down to see Fran and I took that opportunity to take my break so I could be with her "Do you want me to get your Mam from the parents room?" I asked
"No, I want to do this on my own. If I've got to have a skin graft then you can get her but I don't want her asking loads of questions and distracting me"
"Are you ok with me being here. I can go if you want" I offered
"No, it's fine. You're a doctor you know these things already" She insisted
I wheeled Fran into an empty triage room and invited the specialist In "I'm Dr Alicia Hardy - Munroe , I'm the leading Paediatric Consultant on this Ward" I shook her hand
"I'm Dr Freya Marshall. I'm a Paediatric Burns specialist. All I want to do Francesca is to take a proper look at your burns and determine whether you will need further treatment or whether or not you will need a skin graft. Do you want Dr Hardy to stay in the room with you whilst I examine you?" She asked
"Yes!" Fran reached for my hand and I could see fear flash across her face
"Hey, it's okay . I'm going to stay with you and I can get your Mam at anytime" I said comfortingly
I helped her onto the bed and removed the sterile bandages and dressings as gently as I could. Dr Marshall examined her and after about 10 minutes of examination she stepped away
"From what I could tell based on my examination Francesca is that you have mostly Second Degree Partial Thickness burns that are fairly superficial. I'm going to take some Pictures and get a more senior member of my team to check them for a second opinion but I don't think you'll need a skin graft, you've got a lot of fluid retention in the Burns so I want you started on IV Fluids and antibiotics as a precaution to keep your blood pressure stable and to prevent shock and once you're discharged you'll need to come to outpatients every three days to five days for about a month to have your dressings changed. Keep the affected area elevated as much as you can when you're at home, it will be difficult to walk for about a week whilst the swelling goes down but after that you should be fine." Dr Marshall explained
"Will it leave a scar...." She asked worriedly
"It will leave minimal scarring and will be sensitive to sunlight for the next three years so apply high factor sunscreen and avoid the midday sun" She shook my hand again and left
"If you have any questions I can try my best to answer them?" I stayed in the room with her for a bit after to let her process everything
"I'm just happy I don't need an operation and that it's not going to scar.... Coach won't let us wear shorts with our cheer uniform. She's gonna go cray Cray when she knows I'm missing, she went Cray Cray when Rach broke her ankle because she was missing a flyer and now she's missing a base"  She laughed
"I'm not sure Rachel was the best choice for flyer" I laughed "She's not exactly the most Graceful"
"I agree but she weighs less than us others so she's perfect to throw in the air. Us Bases are mostly being used as backstops at the moment whilst the Seniors show us what to do and how to correctly hold the flyers" She laughed again
I wheeled her back to the ward "Do you want to talk to your Mam?" I offered
"Can't you do it please Alicia" She begged
"Fine. I'll go and find her and talk to her" I walked off the ward and went to the parents room to find Fran's Mam

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"Rachel I love you dearly but I do have a job to do as interesting as it is listening to you recall what happened in your English lesson so I'm going to love you and leave you. I'll talk to you later- I'll see at home I love you" I ended the call and breathed a sigh of relief
Ethan came over and snaked an arm around my waist "no touching mister" I warned "Remember you got me pregnant and you don't get to touch me unless you're massaging my sore back" I giggled and kissed him
He kissed back "Who was that you looked glad to be rid of"
"It was Rachel. I love my siblings dearly but God she can talk for hours when she gets going, she started telling me some long winded tale about how they had a cover teacher in English and apparently two boys started singing abba- the things that happen in High school" I laughed
"Cal was the same when we were teenagers except he was usually talking about his new girlfriend or which shop his friends had robbed Cigarettes from" Ethan said
"You wouldn't think he'd once been a Womaniser would you. Look at him now settled down with a child, do you think he'll ever get another girlfriend" I wondered accepting a pear drop from Ethan - I'd been craving hard boiled sweets the last week . I popped one into my mouth and as I was sucking it baby started doing flips in my belly
"Oh!" I said surprised
"Alicia? Are you okay?" Ethan panicked
"Ethan, it's fine. Baby just moved that's all- here feel" I placed his hand over the spot where they were moving
"Even though I've felt that lots of times in the past it never gets old. It's surreal to feel our baby move like that" He said sweetly
"That's the first time she's done that" I remarked
"She?" Ethan asked
"Just a feeling. We've had three girls I just can't see them being anything else" I shrugged
"Whatever it is. I'll be happy as long as you are both healthy and happy" Ethan bent down and kissed my bump.
"I won't be able to fit into these much longer. I'm getting quite the bump, I already had to size up this morning" I chuckled
"It obviously means they're happy and growing bigger" Ethan smiled
I looked at the time on my phone "I'd better get back, it's ward rounds soon and I need to examine some of the patients to see if they're fit for discharge" I quickly pecked his cheek and walked off in the direction I needed to
I shut my phone in my locker and took a swig of my water and went out onto the ward.
"Right, Who do I need to examine" I walked up to the Nurses station
"Darren is due another nebuliser but we waited until you'd examined him and then George the mystery boy isn't a mystery anymore he's epileptic , the junior doctor wants him started on Carbamazepine.  Eleanor Lopez needs her drip adjusting but that's it" Keely said looking up from typing up notes
I listened to Darren's chest and took his Peak flow "Right mister. As long as you remember to keep yourself calm and don't get yourself in a state and bring on another attack then you can go home when your Mam comes to visit later" I gave him a sticker from my pocket and made a note to get his discharge papers. I wrote up a prescription for George and sent a Nurse to the Pharmacy with it and adjusted Eleanor's drip. "Once these antibiotics have run overnight , you can go home in the morning young lady. I bet you'll be glad to be back at home in your own bed"
I showed the 17 year old how to set up her feed for her NG tube, she would have to stay in until her Nutrition levels steadied and she gained some weight, I discharged the 16 year old epileptic patient with some new medication.